


The Runaway Poster

by GayTrashDove



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29434341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayTrashDove/pseuds/GayTrashDove
Summary: Lin finds the old wanted poster for Toph during her stent as The Runaway. Kya and Lin travel to the swamp to confront Toph.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Kudos: 58





	The Runaway Poster

Lin sat up in the attic of her house, sorting through old boxes. Kya had decided they needed to participate in spring cleaning, and Lin had been given the attic as her chore. So she was sitting in the musty room, surrounded by more boxes than she knew what to do with. It seemed most of them belonged to her mom before she went off to travel. How she ended up with them, she wasn't quite sure. And as she dug through them she was getting rather annoyed. It seemed her mom had just thrown random stuff into each box, with only a few boxes being labeled.

It was one of the labeled boxes that she was going through now. In Katara's handwriting, "papers," was written. Lin was digging through a bunch of important documents when she finally hit the bottom. There was an old piece of what looked like parchment, folded into fourths. Lin took it out to u fold it and couldn't believe what she saw.

Kya found her wife several hours later, sitting on the floor of the attic, surrounded by half-unpacked boxes. Lin was staring off into space, a piece of paper clutched in her hands. Kya slowly approached her, placing a hand on her shoulders as she took the paper into her own hands to read what had upset her wife so much.

"Wanted: The Runaway," the poster read. It had a crudely drawn picture of Toph as a young girl. It listed her crimes as scam and theft and then listed a rather large reward for her capture, or anything leading up to it. 

Kya frowned. Their parents had never told them that story. The poster seemed to have been from around the time they would have been traveling together and training Aang, so it was rather strange this story was left out. 

Kya sat down next to Lin, waiting for her to speak. It was obvious this was upsetting her. She had looked to her mom as a beacon of justice as a young girl, so badly wanted to follow in footsteps. Realizing her mom was participating in crimes for the fun of it must be a shocking adjustment to Lin's view of her mother. 

"She never mentioned this. I know Katara said she used to be a bit of a rebel in her youth, but I thought she was referring to her running away from home and joining Team Avatar. Not pointless scams." Lin said, looking down at her hands.

Kya wrapped an arm around the metalbender, pulling her into her side. "I know, but she still did okay as Chief. She founded the police force. It doesn't change much, does it?"

"Of course it changes a lot! This means that shit she pulled with Su and rolling up the police report wasn't just a one off thing. She didn't respect the law. It was just a joke to her probably." Lin shouted, jumping up and pacing as she waved her hands around.

"Do you want to go talk to her? You have the next few days off."

"What good would that do?" Lin bit out. Kya sighed. Lin was mad and just taking it out on her. At the sigh though, Lin had the decency to shoot her an apologetic look.

"I'm just saying, you could go talk to her. Get her side. At least you could voice your displeasure. Might make you feel better."

"She'd just brush me off, Kya." Lin had come to a standstill in from of Kya. Kya looked up, seeing the stress and pain on her wife's face. Reaching a hand up, Lin helped her off the floor. Kya used the momentum to pull the shorter woman into a hug.

"I can come with you. It'd be a little vacation for us. But you can say what you want and leave. It doesn't matter how she reacts." Kya said, trying to keep her voice soothing as she stroked Lin's back.

"I guess so," Lin said tentatively.

"Yay!" Kya shouted, "Let's go pack." And with that, Lin was being pulled down the steps to their bedroom to pack.

*

As the two made their way through the swamp, Kya seemed excited to just be out exploring. Lin on the other hand, felt a sense of unease and dread. She knew Kya was trying to keep her distracted, treating this like a fun excursion, but Lin's mind was stuck on the reason for their trip.

Lin figured they'd make their way to the Banyan Grove tree and wait for Toph to come to them. It beat trying to find her in the labyrinth of of a swamp. She tried to send little smiles to Kya as they set up camp among the base of the tree. Kya would send reassuring smiles back.

It didn't take long for Toph to come find them. By the next morning, she was nudging Lin's side of the sleeping bag with her foot. Lin looked up at the questioning eyes of her mother before sitting up and reaching over to shake Kya awake.

"Noooo, five more minutes, Linny," Kya mumbled sleepily, turning to wrap her arms around Lin's waist. Lin blushed, shooting a quick glance at her mother who raised an eyebrow in question. Lin and Kya hadn't mentioned they had gotten married, let alone that they were in a relationship in the first place.

Lin shook Kya again. "Kya, mom is here. We need to get up." Kya looked up at her with sleep-filled eyes. Then she followed Lin's glance and looked up to Toph, who now had a smirk on her face.

"Didn't realize you and Sugar Queen Jr. were so close, Linny." Toph enunciated the nickname, giving a sharp laugh. Lin just blushed, glad her mother couldn't see it, but lost that happiness at realizing Toph could sense her heart rate speed up.

Lin huffed in irritation, turning to get out of the sleeping bag before helping Kya out. They packed up their camp and in silence, headed towards Toph's place in the swamp.

The trek to Toph's little alcove was done in silence. Lin with barely contained irritation wished she could turn to Kya for comfort, but didn't want to answer her mother's questions. Toph meanwhile, was already wondering just how close the two were. Finding them curled up in a shared sleeping bag and the nickname going without argument definitely made Toph reevaluate what she thought she knew.

Once they made it back to her place, Toph let Lin and Kya get comfortable as she got out some tea. Lin bent a earthen seat for herself and Kya. It was fairly small, meaning the two had to sit fairly close. Toph mentally added this to her evidence collection of her growing theory.

"So, what brings you two all the way out here?" Toph was met with silence. Kya had reached out to grab Lin's hand in a comforting gesture. "Lin, I can sense the irritated breathing, you might as well cut to the point."

Toph heard the unmistakable sound of paper being pulled out and unfolded. She heard it being shaken and smoothed out and the rush of air as it was thrust forward. "Care to explain this?" Her daughter asked, anger lacing her voice.

"Care to explain what it is?" Toph snapped back. After 80 some years, people still couldn't seem to grasp that she was blind.

Kya let out a small chuckle. Lin spluttered for a second before reading the paper. Toph's smile growing as she realized it was her old wanted poster during her stay in the Fire Nation during the war.

"Really, mom. The Runaway. Why are you smiling? This isn't funny. You were Chief of Police. You should have been upholding the law, not scamming people."

"Oh relax, Lin. It was during my youth. Not like it happened while I was part of the force."

"That doesn't mean much! You never told me. You made it seem like you always had the utmost respect for the law." Lin was furious, but Toph could pick up the hurt under the anger. She noticed Kya was now rubbing calming circles on Lin's back.

"Look, Lin. I was rebellious. I had just left home and enjoyed the lack of supervision. Now why is this so upsetting?"

Lin sat for a moment. Toph knew she was glaring at her. "Because I looked up to you." It was said in a small voice, rarely heard from her daughter.

Toph raised an eyebrow. Kya had shifted and now had Lin pulled into a one-arm embrace. Not too shocking until Toph realized Lin was leaning into it, not rejecting the comfort.

They say in silence. Toph knew Lin wanted an apology, but they both knew it wasn't going to come. Toph decided a change of subject would be the better route. "So, since when are you two so buddy-buddy?" Toph asked, sensing the two look at each other. The tone suddenly becoming tense as they shared a private conversation. Toph waited it out.

"Kya is a officially a Beifong," Lin said simply. Kya's heart rate spiked a bit at the declaration. "We got married after the whole Kuvira thing."

"Seems I'm not the only one keeping secrets," Toph said back, a bit of a snap in her voice. "How long have you been together?"

Toph could feel them sharing a look. "A bit more than three years." Lin answered.

Toph hummed in acknowledgement. Would have been around the time Lin was dealing with the Amon and Equalist threats. 

"Well, if that's all..." Toph trailed off. Lin huffed in annoyance, but Kya was quick to grab her hand. 

"I think we're going to spend a few days exploring the swamp. Is it alright if we set up camp here? We can catch up." Kya rushed out, trying to be helpful.

"Do whatever," was the only answer Toph gave them. She headed back to her lounging area and settled in. 

Kya led Lin outside. Toph could feel them moving around the swamp, just exploring and spending time together. She was happy for her daughter. But knew that they would inevitably have to talk. Kya would make sure of it.


End file.
